Clutching at straws: using tangible interaction to provide non-visual access to graphs

We present a tangible user interface (TUI) called Tangible Graph Builder, that has been designed to allow visually impaired users to access graph and chart-based data. We describe the current paper-based materials used to allow independent graph construction and browsing, before discussing how researchers have applied virtual haptic and non-speech audio techniques to provide more flexible access. We discuss why, although these technologies overcome many of the problems of non-visual graph access, they also introduce new issues and why the application of TUIs is important. An evaluation of Tangible Graph Builder with 12 participants (8 sight deprived, 4 blind) revealed key design requirements for non-visual TUIs, including phicon design and handling marker detection failure. We finish by presenting future work and improvements to our system. Author Keywords Tangible User Interface, Visual Impairment, Haptic Interaction, Graphs ACM Classification Keywords H.5.2 Information Interfaces...

• Type: Conference
• Year: 2010
• Where: CHI
• Authors: David K. McGookin, Euan Robertson, Stephen A. Brewster
• Keywords: CHI 2010, Human Computer Interaction, Non-visual Graph Access, Tangible Graph Builder, Tangible User Interface